SIA flight catches fire while making emergency landing in Singapore

SINGAPORE: A Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight to Milan caught fire early Monday morning (Jun 27) while making an emergency landing in Singapore, but all passengers on board escaped unharmed.

Flight SQ368 departed Changi Airport for Milan at 2.05am on Monday. The flight was forced to turn back to Singapore after an engine oil warning message, SIA said in a statement.

The plane’s right engine caught fire after the aircraft, a Boeing 777-300ER, touched down at the airport at around 6.50am, SIA said. Firefighters put out the fire and there were no injuries to the 222 passengers and 19 crew on board.

Changi Airport also issued a statement saying that the fire was extinguished “within minutes” by the Airport Emergency Service team, which was already on standby.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) also said in a statement on Monday evening that the fire was put out within five minutes. The runway on which the aircraft landed was then closed for about five hours for repairs and clean-up, CAAS said. Landings and take-offs continued on Changi Airport’s other runway.

“Whilst some flights were impacted, all flights were able to take off within one hour of their scheduled departure times,” CAAS stated.

The authority said it will be investigating to determine the causes of the incident. The Ministry of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau will also be conducting an independent investigation.